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Missionaries Into Darkest Alcoholics Anonymous

Mama and Papa,
We are in America at last. The Lord has sent us into the strangest belief system. The men and women here seem impervious to the Gospel, but the Lord has given us great love for them.

This religion teaches that virtually anything can be defined as a god. During their meetings these people gather and pray in unity, but the "god" each individual prays to can be as varied and unique as particles of sand in our African desert. It is unsettling watching them join in the Lord's Prayer, because most do not know Jesus, and therefore cannot know the Father.

This religion was founded here in America in the 1930s. It is a very American system of belief and worship. Very democratic, one might say. In this belief system, it is not important what one worships, only that one must worship something. In fact, initiates who come seeking help, but who have trouble inventing or envisioning a god, are often told they can worship a "doorknob," or even the group itself to begin their spiritual journey.

The first time we heard this we thought it was a joke-some form of esoteric humor. But it is not. It truly is not. We have heard the "doorknob-deity" speech a number of times now. It apparently serves as their starter-god. Like the training wheels on a bike-only there until the child is ready for the next big step. Believe in something, newcomers are told; believe in anything; just believe.

We have been documenting the various deities the members describe as their gods. One worships nature; another an unseen force; several pray to the universe, others to diverse spiritual entities. Some claim to worship the divinity in man. A woman in this sect recently proclaimed we are all part of God! We pray hard for her.

In this sect one can also find Mormons, non-Christian deists, Wiccans (modern day witches, very popular in America), and many who follow heretical versions of Jesus Christ. There is simply no limit to the gods that can be revered in this belief system. Here it doesn't matter whether the god you worship is an ant-or an avalanche-or an avocado.

It has been ferocious spiritual warfare. Mama and Papa, we are tired. This mission field…it is like living, not in a Christian nation, but in the pages of the Old Testament. This seems virtually the same to us as Jeremiah 2:27. These are people, "Who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their backs to Me, and not their face.'"

We fear most of these people will go to their deaths rejecting Jesus Christ. Our daily prayer is that the Lord will bring other missionaries to share the gospel with them. Here is where it gets complicated, for in the midst of this paganism, some that worship the Jesus of the Bible are also present!

There are Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals and Lutherans. Sadly, most haven't come to share the gospel. They are not here to testify. They are here as participants of this multi-god religion. These saints attend their churches, acknowledge the Bible as the Word of God, but nevertheless belong to this undeniably anti-Biblical religion.

This made us angry at first. But the Lord has begun to reveal how deceptive and seductive this religion is. So seductive, in fact, that these Christians don't believe this to be a religion at all. They believe this to be a "spiritual program," a distinction that has no validity. In their minds this simple phrase, "spiritual program," allows them to attend these meetings, despite what their Bible proclaims.

They have turned to this belief system because it promises freedom from the bondage of sin they were (or are) trapped in. Mama and Papa, they come to this religion to free themselves from alcohol!

It is hard to understand. Somehow they have learned to come here rather than submitting to Jesus and seeking help within Bible believing churches. What about prayer meetings? What about Bible study? What about falling on one's face before a holy, all-powerful, compassionate Christ?

These Christians believe only through attending this all-gods religion can they be free. But it is a strange sort of "free," because they have to attend these meetings for life. In fairness, they have been encouraged to participate by their own pastors, family members, and by other Christians who already attend. For seventy years Christians have been part of this movement.

In their churches on Sunday they call God by that Name above all names: Jesus Christ the Savior. But here, in their all-gods sect, they call Jesus by the term all members use for their various gods. So Jesus becomes a "higher power." Thus has the Savior been placed in the pantheon, the temple of the gods.

In addition to this, when Jesus is mentioned (which is rare), the pagan people in this movement often get upset. Responses have included anger, sarcasm, and a general unease. The enemy is very active in this place.

It is obviously an anti-Biblical belief system, yet Christian after Christian has testified how wonderful this spiritual organization is. On the positive side, it has been encouraging to see Christians occasionally seek out non-believers after the meetings and invite them to church-but, as for boldness in the actual meetings, there is little of it.

Members carry around this religion's "bible," which they call the Big Book. There are actually Christians here who read it more frequently than the Word of God. You will have difficulty believing what we are now going to tell you. A Christian man who belongs to this all-gods religion invited us to attend church with him last Sunday. Badly needing fellowship with believers, we gladly accepted.

The service was wonderful. The Word was preached. Right after church our friend asked if we wanted to go back to the all-gods sect (he of course does not call it that.) We agreed, knowing the Lord would have us pray or proclaim the Gospel, or come alongside one of these lost and hurting souls.

Mama and Papa, the all-gods meeting was held right in his church after service. His pastor has allowed this! Since when does a pastor open the House of God to a non-Christian religion? Yet here in America, it seems a common practice. In America it is very important to be "nice." The Bible does tell us to be kind and loving-but also holy. Holiness, it seems, has been lost here.

In Deuteronomy 16:21 our Lord is commands: "You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make up yourself. You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates."

The Lord does not want false gods worshiped alongside Him. But because the reality of a Holy God seems obscure to these Americans, they think nothing of planting an all-gods belief system right in the Sanctuary. Pray for Fear of the Lord among these people.

Last week we had an exchange with a Christian woman after her all-gods sect had finished meeting. We asked her point blank how she could Biblically justify belonging to this movement. We asked her to read Galatians 1:6-8 to us:

"I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!"

Does this not concern you, we asked, that Christians are sending people into a religion where Christ is but one god among many? Is not Paul's warning clear?

She rolled her eyes. "This is a spiritual program, not a religion."

Clearly the enemy uses this all-gods movement to dull Christians down, and to point the unsaved anywhere but Christ. This strategy has been marvelously effective.

Please pray that our Lord raise up other missionaries to send to these people in Alcoholics Anonymous. There are so many lost people here. This hurts to say, but many of the Christians, who love this all-gods sect, need missionaries almost as badly as the unsaved.

I wrote Missionaries Into Darkest Anonymous to try and show what it would be like for missionaries to try and reach A.A. people--and how one of their greatest difficulties would be the people who have a hybrid Christian/12 Step faith.

The 12 Step religion will continue to rise and will be at least a rudimentary part of the coming one world religion.

It is hard to understand. Somehow they have learned to come here rather than submitting to Jesus and seeking help within Bible believing churches. What about prayer meetings? What about Bible study? What about falling on one's face before a holy, all-powerful, compassionate Christ?

Deceiving His People

Thank you. Alcoholics Anonymous has been ruled religious by the U.S. Supreme Court. The bottom line is that anything and everything can be defined as "god." It has slipped under the radar because for years it was portrayed as a "spiritual program," and this allowed its adherents to aggressively promote it without ever acknowledging that it is a religion.

So now we have Christians who are essentially in two religions. As the article states: "In their churches on Sunday they call God by that Name above all names: Jesus Christ the Savior. But here, in their all-gods sect, they call Jesus by the term all members use for their various gods. So Jesus becomes a "higher power." Thus has the Savior been placed in the pantheon, the temple of the gods."

Increasingly, it is allowed in Bible believing churches. ...they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. (Jeremiah 7:30)

The fact is that far too many professing Christians live their lives, day in and day out, on the basis of something other than the Bible. As a result, their priorities reflect the world’s priorities, not God’s priorities. Their patterns of behavior and their plans for the future differ only slightly from those of their unsaved friends and neighbors. Their expenditures reveal that their perspective is temporal, and that they are vainly pursuing the elusive American Dream. Their shortcomings, when they admit to them, receive the same fault-free labels that the world ascribes (“mistakes” or “diseases” or “addictions” rather than “sins”), as they search for answers in psychology, medication, or the self-help section of the bookstore. Though they adhere to an external form of traditional Christian moralism, there isn’t anything particularly biblical or Christ-centered about how they live.

This reminds me of something I read by A. Pink last year. It was so profound that it often comes to mind. I've posted it a few times...it just seems to be so applicable to the false church.

The gospel of Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of anarchy. It does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but fosters the fraternal, spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great "brotherhood". It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to improve and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to "the best that is within us". It aims to make this world such a congenial and comfortable habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will not be needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this world that he has no time or inclination to think of the world to come. It propagates the principles of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and teaches us to live for the good of others, and to be kind to all. It appeals strongly to the carnal mind and is popular with the masses, because it ignores the solemn facts that by nature man is a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, and dead in trespasses and sins, and that his only hope lies in being born again.

The A.A. cofounders, Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson, were not Christians. So much has been written about so-called Christian influence in early A.A., yet the man who wrote the 12 Steps, well, he was given the Steps by a demonic spirit.

According to early A.A. member Tom Powers, "Now these people, Bill and Dr. Bob, believed vigorously and agressively. They were working away at the spiritualism; it was not just a hobby." From PASS IT ON, pg. 280

In PASS IT ON, the official A.A. biography of A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson, Wilson describes one of his many experiences: "The ouija board got moving in earnest. What followed was the [B]fairly usual experience-it was a strange melange of Aristotle, St. Francis, diverse archangels with odd names, deceased friends--some in purgatory, and others doing nicely thank you! There were malign and mischievious ones of all descriptions, telling of vices quite beyond my ken, even as former alcoholics." (pg.278)

The origin of A.A. is a mud pie with ingredients ranging from spiritualism to Swedenborgianism to the New Thought heresy of Emmet Fox to the swiss cheese theology of the Oxford Group.

“As for the person who turns to mediums and spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My Face against that person and will cut him off from his people.” (Leviticus 20:6)

Thank you... My deceased father went to AA for many years...He fell many times back into alcoholism and his actions or words never led to the knowledge of our Savior.

I'm sorry to hear that.

I have a friend, an old friend, who's a recovering alcoholic. He fell for the universal god they promote. He's a nice guy, but he's deceived. He believes in diversity and no one is wrong...everything is good in its own way. Live and let live and let's all get along. He has no need to accept Jesus, because he doesn't realize he's lost. God is universal and loving and all you need to do is not be a bad person. He goes to his meetings for spiritual support and he's as lost as a goose. A very nice man with no understanding of the true God.

It has taken me three days to get the courage up to actually reply to this thread, I am on this message board ALL the time, but what happened to me in treatment and in NA has made me afraid to post because I don't anyone to respond negatively to me, which wouldn't happen because I hold all the same views as everyone here, but here's what happened, I was addicted to drugs for almost twenty years, in 2002 i went to prison for 8 months and I was saved, it was the happiest time of my life, I cried the day I got out, I didn't want to leave. I was immediately drawn to prophecy in prison. I got out but didn't have a solid foundation in the Lord and went back to using until Nov 18 2006. On that day I had just bought my "bag" but two hours later
with almost a full "bag" I knew I was done. I wasn't in trouble, life actually was good, but I was done. I drove over to someone house that I knew was clean and said I wanted to be clean, so I stayed there three days and then we drove back to my house and dumped my drugs in the driveway. I went home to my mom's and said I was done with drugs.I turned my life over to the Lord because I knew that's why this was happening. NO WITHDRAWELS, NO NOTHING,AMEN. So I wanted to do things right and I went to treatment. I had to do a recovery plan, which was simply GOD. They would not accept that and told me not to mention Jesus in class it has to be higher power. After the third time of getting in trouble for that I said I had to go because I will never deny the name of my Lord and Saviour. They let me know how sick I was. I left anyway...still clean. So I got home and decided I should attend meetings and always spoke of Jesus, I got in trouble but not like the third and final meeting I went to....I really did it then, I told them I was not recovering I was delivered!!!!!!! I got in so much trouble from the old timers who in no uncertain terms told me I was not and that I was a newcomer therefore I needed to keep my mouth shut and just listen and learn and never say Jesus in a meeting again because that offends people. I was crying so bad they had humiliated me in front of everyone . I left and never returned only to be delivered still to this day!!!! You guys are the only friends I have and I always want to post but never get the courage , but I have always prayed that I would start fellowshiping with everyone before the rapture. So whether we are raptured today or ten years from now I did it. Praise the Lord

God is with you

Barbi21021,
I am thanking Christ our King that you are so brave. You are not alone. You are not the only one who has been spiritually/verbally/emotionally abused by the A.A. religion. You are not the only one at an A.A. meeting who has been told "never say Jesus in a meeting again because that offends people."

I am so encouraged. Thank you so much. Are you in a Bible believing church? And Barbi21021, no matter how you may feel, you are not alone. Not by a long shot.

So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:16-17)

I believe the Lord is calling his people not just out of A.A., but out of the 12 Steps, whether supposedly Christian or not. You are ahead of the curve.

I am going to use your testimony on my blog www.mywordlikefire.wordpress.com, if that is okay. You can find information there about the anti-Biblical origin and nature of A.A. and the 12 Steps.

God bless you sister. The Lord has blessed me today with the courage and power of your testimony.

Barbi ~ welcome, welcome, WELCOME. What an amazing testimony you are to the glory of our Lord and Savior...our DELIVERER.

Thank you so very much for your bravery and boldness in sharing your story. I have no doubt, not one, that God won't use the salvation He gave you to speak the Truth to so many who are floundering in the vapid wasteland of self-help God-denying 'helpers' who are actually keeping others from the deliverance that ONLY Jesus Christ has provided.

God bless you, sister, for holding up the name of Jesus Christ to those lost people. You will be (and have already been, I'm sure) richly rewarded for standing firm in the face of ridicule and mockery. Isn't it amazing how the so-called 'goodness' of people without Christ breaks down and evaporates when His mighty name is proclaimed.

I look forward to getting to know you a bit better and hope you will contribute here more often.